1911 factory crowning

[American1776]

Somewhat related to my other post. I have a new Colt series 80. This one hasn’t been fired yet, my FFL orders it from Davidson’s. I got around to cleaning it, and noticed this is what the muzzle looks like. Seems to be a problem at the 11 o clock?

Should I shoot it and see what comes of it? Go to a local gunsmith and have it recrowned? I don’t want to deal with Colt right now if it’s not necessary.

Thanks

 

[arjay]

If you don't want to ship it back you could have a gunsmith do something like this

 

[American1776]

If you don't want to ship it back you could have a gunsmith do something like this

That looks very nice. Looks like the barrel is slightly shortened as well? It looks recessed into the bushing.

Anyway: should I shoot the gun first and see what it does? This is a defensive piece for 15 yards and closer.

 

[old bear]

I'd shoot it first, and see what happens, if it doesn't shoot well then a trip to your gunsmith should be in order.

 

[arjay]

Id see how it groups first.The bushing is a heavy flange aftermarket piece so it makes the barrel look shorter.I think the crown is called an 11° target
It's a Springfield gi that a local smith built and I ended up with-great shooter!

 

[LoboGunLeather]

What I see appears to be more of a cosmetic issue than any sort of damage. I'd like to think that Colt's standards of quality control were higher than allowing something like this to get out the door, but we know that all manufacturers have slipped downhill from the lofty standards of yesteryear.

I would test-fire the pistol first, and if it shoots well as-is I would probably leave it as-is. Re-cutting the crown (as shown on the nice work done on Arjay's pistol) is a simple enough job, but requires the proper cutting tool, a lathe, and a smith with the proper skills and patience to do the job properly (not a job for the hobbyist). Probably take more time setting up the machine than actually doing the cutting, but everybody I know in the business has a minimum shop charge these days, so no job is really cheap.

You could also contact Colt's customer service department, send your photos to them, and see if they will provide a replacement barrel. I wouldn't be surprised if they did that; pretty easy fix that costs very little to the company and requires no shop time.

 

[Funflyer]

I think I'd do both, shoot it and get some accuracy data and, then have the crown cleaned up by a Smith. Out to 15 yards you'd probably be able to see a difference, although negligible in terms of defensive shooting.

 

[Watchdog]

I wouldn't have bought it and brought it home looking like that.

 

[ShivasIrons]

Not worth the PITA to send it back. No big deal to get a Smith to clean it up and it should not cost much.

 

[American1776]

Not worth the PITA to send it back. No big deal to get a Smith to clean it up and it should not cost much.

I think this is the road I’ll end up going down. There’s a good gunsmith 5 minutes away. I’ve talked to him in the past and he knows his stuff.

 

[stansdds]

Re-crowning a 1911 barrel is a pretty simple job and any decent gunsmith should be able to do it right.